Birth Story of Gideon Daniel Born 5/12/12 5:09am 8lbs 7oz 21 1/2 inches long at 39 weeks, 4 days pregnancy.

I had weeks of prodromal labor, but since I had that happen with my last baby, I tried my best to not make a big deal about it and just relax. There were only a couple times where I really thought it might be true labor, one was the Wed. a week and a half before he was born, the other was the Monday before he was born.

Then on Fri. the 11th, at around noon I started having somewhat uncomfortable and fairly regular contractions with a back ache. I hadnít had many bh contractions the day/night before or that morning, so I was wondering if maybe it would turn into the real thing! We had plans to go out to lunch to celebrate Motherís Day with my mother who had come up on Sat. to help me out for awhile after baby arrives. Then we were going to go to the park, just my husband and 3 children and I for a fun outing. I questioned whether I should go, but ultimately decided to go ahead with our plans and try to use it as a good distraction. I heated up a rice bag for my back and we were off! We had a great lunch and it was so fun to watch the kids play at the park and they also rode on the carousel and train we have at our park. I just walked around and sometimes leaned against something during contractions, or just walked through them. They were very short and not too uncomfortable at this point.

When we got home, the kids went off to play and I was exhausted so I took a nap with my husband. When I woke up, we decided to watch a movie. I continued to contract all this time, they were probably 6-8 min. apart, and only 30-60 sec. long, but I wasnít really timing them. I sat on my birth ball and rocked my hips around during the movie. I was feeling a bit nauseated and just wanted to eat lightly- mostly fruit bars, fruit and yogurt and Red Rasp. Leaf Tea. The contractions really didnít seem to be much changed, maybe getting a bit stronger, but still short and about the same min.s apart.

But around 5 pm I saw some pink discharge when I wiped, and thought- hey, maybe this is actually going to turn into real labor! I got very excited at that thought. My husband wanted to get the person we had lined up to watch the kids to come get them, but it wasnít going to work out for them. I thought about it and decided I just wanted my mom and husband to put the kids to bed at about 7pm, since they were really tired out anyway from the park and I felt like I would be happier just to have them sleep well at home than worry about whether or not they were sleeping well at someone elseís house.

After they got the kids to bed, the contractions seemed to maybe space out a little, so I went outside with my husband to walk, but that was embarrassing for me, since their were neighbors outside and I felt self-conscious. I thought we could walk around the back yard, but that wasnít working either so I decided to just walk around the birth tub in our basement while I watched a movie. I did that for awhile and we decided, since I had the bloody show, to call the MW to come check me to let us know if anything was changing and whether this might be early labor. She came at about 8 pm and said that I was only 2 cm dilated and didnít tell me this but my cvx that had been anterior the Wed. before was now posterior. That would have been really discouraging for me to hear, so I am really glad she didnít tell me that. She said it could turn into labor or it could be another week! And that we should all just try to get as much rest as possible in case it turned into something.

We went to bed, but after her checking me, the contractions seemed to be getting stronger, so it was hard to sleep. My husband said he really didnít get any sleep since I would reach out for his hand pretty much every contraction (or at least the ones strong enough to wake me up). At around midnight, I got up and took a shower (that would usually make my contractions stop other times I had prodromal labor). But they still kept coming. I also ate a little snack, since I was feeling hungry. I went back to bed and tried to fully relax with each contraction. They were actually starting to get even stronger at this point so it was getting harder to relax. Some of the contractions I even tried to remain fully still and quiet (I had been moaning lowly during the contractions).

They really built up after that and I could no longer stay in bed. I even told my husband I wanted an epidural!! He said you can have one soon (meaning I would be able to get in the birth pool soon). This was about 2 am. I thought, I donít want to wait to get in the birth pool, I am getting in the tub (I really didnít want my husband to work at filling the birth pool if this wasnít really labor). All this time I continued to have a lot of bloody show.

I got in the tub in the basement (where I had planned on laboring), and woke my mom up with my loud moaning during a contraction. She and my husband helped me through the next few contractions in the tub, but the water was not really helping that much and I was starting to feel hot, so we went out into the family room and started my movie again (Pride and Prejudice) and I would lean forward over my birth ball and sway my hips during contractions while my husband would squeeze my hips. That worked for awhile, and I loved having the movie on, it really helped distract me/ helped me relax between contractions. The sound track was very beautiful and relaxing. Then I started feeling like I just couldnít do this any more and that I just wanted in the birth pool. I also thought I might be feeling like I needed to push, but not with every contraction.

I asked my husband to start filling the pool and to call the MW, then I would call him back for another contraction- they were coming pretty close now. But they were not consistently long, some were and some were still very short. I even questioned if it was really labor since some were so short. This was about 4 am. My husband called the MW and he said she seemed surprised to hear from him and couldnít believe we had been up pretty much all night. She said she would come to check me. She arrived at about 4:30am and set out our birth supplies while I was contracting in the tub.

Then she got everything ready to check my cvx in the room downstairs and when my contraction was over, I walked into the room to be checked. She pointed out to my mom and husband that I had a baby bulge in my back- meaning the babyís head was really low and you could see it bulge out in my back (usually a good sign of imminent birth!) She checked me and said I was a stretchy 9 with a bulging bag of waters! Oh, joy! This was really it! I was so glad this was almost over, I was afraid she would tell me I was 3 cms dilated and I really felt like this was so intense I couldnít handle 10 more hrs of it!!

I got back in the pool and the MW said to just let the pressure build till I had to push. I went through probably 2-3 more contractions, then I tried to check my cvx, and the MW said, itís your body, you can check it as much as you want! You may even be able to feel babyís head! I tried to feel babyís head and I could! It was so incredible!! I could also feel the stretchy cvx at the side of babyís head, so when I had another contraction I just slid it around the side of babyís head and started to push. (I had to have an anterior lip of cvx held back by the MW at my last birth and that was uncomfortable, but this was not the least bit uncomfortable!) I continued to have my hand on babyís head as I moved baby down with the next contraction, then my water broke and it was clear fluid. My husband was behind me in the birth pool and he could feel the force of the water bag breaking. It was so nice to be supported by him. It felt good to push baby out until he started crowning, and then it felt like I was tearing! The MW said I was stretching nicely, so I kept pushing.

I had to push really hard to get his head to come out. It was half out when my contraction stopped and that hurt really bad, but then I remembered to breathe his head out and not push it too forcefully, and it actually just slid the rest of the way out, even though I didnít have another contraction yet. I could feel a bit of the cord on one side of his neck, but the MW said that was fine. It was hard to have my hand at his head and push his shoulders out, so I asked the MW to help me. She said she barely touched his head and didnít do anything really but tell me I would have to push hard to get his shoulders out. Again, it hurt and I didnít want to push hard, but did what she said and he shot out and she told me to pick up my baby. I thought she had slid the cord off his neck, but she didnít, he must have just unwrapped himself from it as he came out.

I picked him up and held him and he was so tiny and soft and perfect! He let out a little cry and had his eyes open. We checked to be sure he was a boy and he was and I happened to notice that his cord was already white (which meant it had stopped pulsating). Then he seemed limp and didnít look like he was breathing, the MW saw this even before I had a chance to worry and she checked his heart rate, which was hard to hear with the stethoscope so she got the doppler to check it. His HR was only 90, and he didnít seem to be breathing. We tried stimulating him while she got out the ambu bag and she gave him 3 puffs of air to push the fluid out of his lungs, then I held him up a bit and we rubbed him some more. MW checked his heart rate again and it was up to about 120s. He pinked up and looked a lot better. We thank the Lord and our fast-acting MW for helping him to be alright.

Then I felt I needed to push out the placenta, so I did and we got out of the tub and I laid on the couch right there by the pool. Gideon wanted to nurse and latched on really well and nursed well for probably 20-30 minutes. He is just so beautiful and soft and cuddles up. I feel so blessed to have him! Also, since the MW arrived at about 4:30 and the other assistant MW lived an hour away, she didnít have her come since we didnít think we had that much time. So, my mom, who also happens to be an RN assisted the MW (kept track of what time different things happened). What a tremendous blessing to have her here to help!!! The Lord is so good, He knew exactly what would happen and our precious baby was safe in His hands!

Then we walked to the room downstairs so the MW could check the baby over and check me too. Baby Gideon still wanted to nurse so I nursed him again and then our girls woke up. My oldest daughter saw the light on downstairs and she thought that I must be having the baby so she and our youngest daughter came running in to the room and were so excited to see their new baby brother!! The MW examined the baby and me and I was so glad to find I hadnít torn when I gave birth! The baby checked out perfectly. Then my husband went and woke up our son and asked if he wanted to meet his new baby brother! He ran downstairs and was so happy to see Gideon. The children all love him so much!!